In my opinion, Brad Caleb Kane has the hardest job on television this fall: turning Friday the 13th, a franchise built for decades on Jason Voorhees violent rampages, into a sustainable series for A24 and Peacock. When I point out that it feels like a near-impossible challenge, he does not miss a beat.
Sound heavy? Don’t worry: The kills are sick. And there are lots of them.
In time for Polygon’s
Image: Peacock/A24
I think you're absolutely right, but we should make clear the show is not esoteric or up its own ass. You put a head on its shoulders, then you lop off that head. There’s some gory stuff in the early episodes.
In terms of grisly stuff, I did not wanna skimp on... I won't call them cheap thrills because every kill, every cut, every hack and every slash comes from a deep emotional and psychological place as a result of the story that unfolds in the season. But we don't skimp on the blood. When it hits and when it happens, hopefully it hits the audience because they've come to either empathize or fear for the characters in our story.
We do see Jason in this show, but not in his traditional form that some may expect.
No, not Jason in the hockey mask show, but the expectations that fans might have… they'll see more than they think they will. So no hockey mask, because we don't go up through the events of Part Three, but that doesn't mean we don't go into mask territory. And that doesn't mean we don't see Jason, and potentially very clearly. So I'll just leave that right there.